The Roaring Twenties is the
first of an anthology of four albums by The London Swing
Orchestra.

The twenty tracks on this CD
reflect the various segments of musical life after the Great War.
The album opens with several tracks used to great effect in the BBC
series Mrs Bradley Murder Mysteries. It Had To Be You, The Sheik of
Araby, The Charleston and the wistful waltz What’ll I Do were
all featured in the film The Great Gatsby with Robert Redford.
Staying with the bright young flappers, Dance Little Lady and
Breakaway are English dance band arrangements. The two Donaldson
numbers Because My Baby and Makin’ Whoopee are arrangements
for the great Paul Whiteman Orchestra of 1922 which featured Bix
Beiderbecke on trumpet. The remainder of the album is more of a
gangster, Prohibition feel with music by the great Duke Ellington,
Harold Arlen and Cab Calloway from The Cotton Club in Harlem. There
is a quick nod to the clubs of pre Nazi Berlin with Kurt
Weill’s Mackie Messer sung in German. The more famous version
Mack The Knife can be heard on the fourth album. Returning to
America for Chicago, the album closes with the title song of one of
the greatest Busby Berkeley shows, 42nd Street. This album reflects
an era of great change - of millionaires like Gatsby and murderous
thugs like Dutch Schultz and how the music transcended Prohibition,
Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression.

Upbeat Jazz
URCD249

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